Synopsis

A typical day with SpongeBob and Patrick, when they arrive at the entrance of Jellyfish Fields ready to jellyfish. They slowly watch the Ranger go to open the Fields, and then they take pride in showing him their Jellyfishing licenses, to which he is not amused. SpongeBob then takes a moment to realize how lucky he and Patrick are to be among the jellyfish, and they take the time to Pay Tribute, and Sing The Jellyfishing Song. Patrick then notices a large sign, and points it out to SpongeBob. They then see that it is going to be a Super Highway, in the place of Jellyfish Fields, so SpongeBob and Patrick go into town trying to stop the destruction of Jellyfish Fields.

No one listens, so SpongeBob goes to work, very sad. Mr. Krabs volunteered to help, until he found out what it was, he explained that he will get more customers if the highway is built. SpongeBob discovers that Plankton is the founder of this highway, and that his plan was to build over the Krusty Krab to run them out of business. The ending of the highway leads to the Chum Bucket, to steal all the customers that Mr. Krabs once had. Mr. Krabs storms over to the Chum Bucket, where he orders Plankton to stop this highway. He then tells the two that he has already had everyone in town agree, including Mr. Krabs, who humorously agreed only because he likes saying, "Aye!". Mr. Krabs remembers this in pity.

SpongeBob and Patrick then pass out flyers trying to get Bikini Bottom to save Jellyfish Fields. They find out that people were on the highway's side, when they pelted them with their own flyers. Nat then asking SpongeBob and Patrick that the highway is what everyone wants, by crushes the instrument that SpongeBob was promoting the fields with. The police then come and control the riot, arresting them because SpongeBob didn't have a licence on his sitar (actually resisting the highway project), and throw them out in the middle, or Edge of nowhere, as Patrick corrects SpongeBob. During this time, Patrick remembers what his Great-uncle Cletus said before he was arrested in a Freedom March and urges them to continue to support Jellyfish Fields. After they are abandoned, they think a parade would get people to go down with the Highway, but as soon as they are brainstorming (literally), a parade for the highway passes by, followed by Plankton, with a Paver, to build the highway. SpongeBob tries to stop him, only to be crushed by the Paver. Jellyfish Fields is then crushed as well, causing all of the jellyfish to retreat.

The sence then cuts to a severly polluted and trashed Bikini Bottom with the Shelly Superhighway forming a concrete arch over the Krusty Krab. SpongeBob, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs are in the Krusty Krab which goes out of business. Mr. Krabs says that he will give the formula to Plankton and closes The Krusty Krab. However, the Jellyfishes soon attacks Bikini Bottom, causing the Bikini Bottomites to panic. And SpongeBob uses this chance to convince the Bikini Bottomites to restore Jellyfish Fields through a news broadcast. Soon, SpongeBob can be seen riding Plankton's paver in an attempt to demolish the highway. But Plankton tells him that his highway is indestructible. However, the Bikini Bottomites help SpongeBob by pushing the paver, giving them enough momentum to unpave the highway and restore Jellyfish Fields. The Krusty Krab's back to business, and the episode ends with The Bikini Bottomites singing The Jellyfishing Song.

Trivia

Due to the name of this episode, many people believed that this was the series finale.

Strangely, at the end of this episode, the 2008 Nickelodeon "Lightbulb" logo was used instead of the current 2009 logo. The same thing happened on The Clash of Triton.

The band in the parade was wearing the same outfits as Squidward's band in Band Geeks.

This episode is declared the SpongeBob Earth Day Special.

This is the second time Patrick has a badge pinned through his skin without feeling any pain, the first was Stuck in the Wringer.

SpongeBob's Last Stand had a online game featured on SpongeBob.com, which also helped the Big Help (an organization/movement started by Nickelodeon about people playing on a online game, who would do vents/things to save the environment and biodiversity in real life, in order to get points in their game; also, the Big Help was promoted by various Nickelodeon stars, like Miranda Cosgrove, among others).

The Krusty Krab sign is different, now stating, "over 2,478,921,437 served", as an obvious parody of the McDonald's sign, which says, "Billions and billions served."

It is revealed Plankton has been stealing Mr. Krabs' mail for five years.

The parade includes flower girls, a marching band, a float with clowns and models, a fish with long legs, conjoined twins, a Santa fish on a limo, old folks being whipped by the wrestlers from Krusty Krushers, a bagpipe band, a giant cat float, a choir, rock stars, and Plankton in a bulldozer.

First time a fax machine appears in the series. It looks identical to a Microsoft ColorJet and an HP Deskjet F2210 which represents the HP Deskjet series, only difference is that the fax machine is blue.

When the crowd throw trash at SpongeBob and Patrick, fish skeletons are seen. However, most of the Bikini Bottomites are fish.

The Chum Bucket slogan "Chum is Fum" is seen again. This is an obvious reference to the episode Chum Bucket Supreme.

Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy don't have any lines in this episode, but in the song, they sing. But that could have been mimicking.

The middle part of The Jellyfishing Song is based on the song "Smoke Two Joints." The leaf hats they wore had five leaves, perhaps representing marijuana, however, they could've been feather plumes that so happen to look like leaves, or palm tree leaves.

There is garbage and graffiti all around the road bridge above the Krusty Krab. It's currently unknown why there can be such that things, since the bridge is new.

The Shelly Superhighway plans are also a reference to how Robert Moses built the highways in New York City and Long Island State.

When SpongeBob and Patrick were abandoned by the police, SpongeBob lost his shoes. Before the commercial break, he has his shoes. After the commercial, he doesn't have shoes anymore.

Plankton's plan to build a highway over the Krusty Krab makes no sense because people could still get inside the Krusty Krab.

In Brazil, the title of this episode is Bob Esponja Protesta, meaning SpongeBob Protests.

After SpongeBob says, "It's working, Patrick! They're booing the highway", the booing stops from the soundtrack, but the crowd's lips are seen, still booing.

After the Shelly Superhighway is built, a shot of the Krusty Krab is shown. Notice the graffiti on the concrete in front of the Krusty Krab. Later, a different shot is seen, and the graffiti is notably different.

The way that the Bikini Bottomites united to destroy the Superhighway is reminiscent of how thousands of people united to destroy the Berlin Wall that devided Germany in 1989.

In this episode, Karen is seen running without being plugged in, and most likely had no batteries.

Oddly, after Plankton built the highway, all other streets in Bikini Bottom disappeared.

When SpongeBob gets in the way of Plankton's steamroller, he's wearing an outfit similar to what he wore in Band Geeks. However when he gets run over, he's in his undies.

On the highway supports around the Krusty Krab is a range of different writing and drawings. One is a drawing of an alien with 'Paul' written next to it. This is a reference to the movie 'Paul', which is about an alien.

The over 1,000,000,000 sign at the Krusty Krab is a parody of the McDonald's sign.

"Plan Zed-99" (Niner niner as Mr. Krabs pronounces it) means surrender the formula to Plankton. Zed is the pronunciation of letter Z, the last letter of the alphabet, and when it comes to two-digit numbers, 99 is the very last number.

In the first scene with Ben Flenny, he uses shoes, but in the second, when Bill appears, the reporter is shoeless.

Plankton breaks the fourth wall when he says "Observe in this conveniently timed flashback."

When the crowd is cheering for the highway Nat's fin is missing.

When SpongeBob and Patrick are first singing the Jellyfishing Song, Patrick's sunglasses may be a reference to his low intelligence due to the large stars on it.

The title card is poping up through the Shelly Superhighway.

On the highway supports around the Krusty Krab is a range of different writing and drawings. One is a drawing of Squidward

After the highway goes over the Krusty Krab and goes over a loop, it goes into the Chum Bucket, but that's impossible because the Chum Bucket is across the street to the Krusty Krab.

Cultural References

In this episode, Patrick talks about his Great-Uncle Cletus, who was named after the slack-jawed yokel on The Simpsons (Cletus DelRoy Spuckler).

The episode's title, "SpongeBob's Last Stand", is a reference to "Custer's Last Stand" (also called the "Battle of the Little Bighorn"), a battle during the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, in which the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne Native American tribes completely defeated the 7th Calvary Regiment of the United States Army.

The Shelly Superhighway plan is also a reference to Robert Moses' plans for the Long Island Transportation System.

Errors

Before Mr. Krabs says that he likes saying 'I', the guy next to him is yellow, but when he says it, the guy is green.

Right before the commercial break, the rainwater is spreading, but afterwards become a circular puddle.

At the beginning when SpongeBob and Patrick are catching jellyfish, Patrick says he caught a "5 spotted jellyfish" but really it had only 1 spot. However, due to Patrick's immense stupidity, he probably can't even tell the difference between 5 spots and 1 spot, so this may not even be an error at all.